Recently during a demonstration I was doing for the photography class I teach I was embarrassed by one of the students’ observations. Apparently when I was showing them how to load film onto a reel for development (metal reels) I kept closing my eyes as I was going through the process. This caused me to be more observant during my normal routines in my darkroom.

Yup… every time I load or unload film holders in total darkness in my darkroom I do it with my eyes closed. Same thing for loading drums or any other procedure I do in darkness.

Does anybody else do this or I am uniquely weird on this one?

Kind Regards,

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.

Do it all the time. that is the way I learned and since it really is a eye/hand thing the muscles react in the manner they were trained.
When I told my class that I did that one of them said "do it". ( I was showing them with my eyes open at the time.) So I did. I think they thought i was pulling their leg.

...when I was showing them how to load film onto a reel for development (metal reels) I kept closing my eyes as I was going through the process...
Does anybody else do this or I am uniquely weird on this one?

Not only do I keep my eyes closed, I usually keep my glasses on.

Weird?? You call that weird? I'll show you *WEIRD* ...
Not only that ... I drink a LOT of coffee ... I show you WIRED weird!!

Heh! Amusing! I've done a bit of that now and then but mostly I keep my eyes open so I can see all the little glows and light leaks in my darkroom. It takes a while to see it and after a bit sometimes I can see where I'm putting things, kinda like working with shadows of an image instead of the real thing. Never had any film fogged while doing so, I guess my Xray vision is not that powerful.